Time passed again.
One day, two days, three days, four days...
And then another week slipped by.
Shaaahhh
Rain was pouring hard outside the building.
It was an unexpected shower, one nobody had seen coming.
Judging by the sound of it hitting the ground, it looked like it would keep coming down for quite a while.
It was usually the same, but today of all days, I absolutely shouldn't go outside.
That was what I thought as I enjoyed a gentle morning coffee, using the sound of the pounding rain as background music.
Creak
"You're here."
The shop door opened, and a familiar face appeared.
A one-eyed woman, slumped like a puppy soaked through by the rain.
It was Tsubaki.
She was drenched from head to toe, and the sight of that beauty with her figure fully outlined should have been the best thing ever. Yet strangely enough, this time I felt nothing at all.
I merely checked her visit with a detached gaze, as if I were looking at some common pebble by the roadside.
"So. What is it this time?"
At her appearance, I sneered and asked why she had come.
I could roughly guess what it was about, but even if I was wrong, it didn't really matter.
Whatever it was, all I had to do was ignore it.
Just as I was thinking that, she did something unexpected.
She dropped to her knees, lowered her upper body, and bowed her head.
A half-hearted full prostration, unlike some people I could name.
In other words, it was a proper dogeza, even if a little lacking.
From the expression I caught when she lowered her head, it didn't seem like she was doing it halfheartedly or without sincerity.
Then that meant something must have changed in her heart over the past week since she left the shop.
That said, I wasn't particularly curious about what it was, so I kept my mouth shut and stayed still. But she opened her mouth on her own and told me the reason.
"After I left the shop that day, I went outside the city, to the place where the sword was stuck in the rock."
By order of her goddess, she couldn't return to the Familia.
But she had nowhere else to go, and nowhere to stay.
So while she wandered aimlessly around the city...
At some point, without even realizing it herself, her feet had carried her back there, to that field where the golden sword was embedded in the ground.
She didn't really understand why she had gone there, but since she had nothing better to do, she sat there for days, staring at the sword.
In the meantime, Guild staff and mages came to investigate the golden sword, as did adventurers and merchants who tried every possible method to obtain it before eventually failing and giving up, and even sightseers who had simply heard the rumor and came to look at the golden sword for themselves.
Many people came and made a fuss, bothering her, but she didn't pay them any mind and simply kept staring blankly at the golden sword stuck in the rock.
She looked, in a way, like she had lost her mind, or perhaps like she had gone insane.
How long had she been staring at the golden sword like that?
On this especially foul day, with the rain coming down harder than usual, she suddenly looked at her own face reflected in a puddle on the ground.
There was a wreck there, a blackened, disgraceful ruin worse than a beggar's ragged state.
By contrast, the golden sword still stood there in the harsh weather and pounding rain, never losing its noble bearing or brilliant radiance.
When she compared the two, her own situation felt unbearably miserable.
And so Tsubaki burst into tears again, like a child.
Fortunately, the fierce rain hid her ugly state.
Rather, it came down even harder, as if telling her to pour out everything she had been holding inside.
How long had she cried like that?
As the heavy rain gradually weakened, and her sobbing grew louder instead...
"I still don't really know what I was thinking. Maybe it was just a fit of anger... no, maybe that girl called me because I had already reached the point of giving up."
In the dark rain, the golden sword once again shone brilliantly all by itself.
Drawn in by that ecstatic light, Tsubaki reached out and grasped the sword once more.
Then, with only the slightest bit of force, the sword came free from the rock with shocking ease, unlike before.
And so, at last, the golden sword was back in her hands.
When she looked at the sword in her hand, Tsubaki's eyes grew red again.
But this time, the tears that spilled down were not sorrow.
They were joy, relief, and a painful realization all at once.
"The moment I held it, I knew. That its owner was never going to be me, but someone else. That this was the exception, and that this was the last chance."
Following that meaning, she raised the golden sword high into the sky.
The torrential rain still continued in the wicked weather, but she didn't care at all.
She simply...
She simply swung the sword in her hand over and over, as if enjoying this one and only chance, this bond that might well be her last.
That sword dance was the final gift the creation, the child, offered to its creator, its mother.
When it was all over, and with regret, she finally returned the sword to its place, she was at last able to sort out all the rough, chaotic feelings she had carried until then.
She was able to look back on herself, and steel her resolve deep in her heart.
"That's why I came. No, that's why I'm here."
She had been wrong, and I had been right.
The arrogant one had been her, and the one who had gone ahead had been me.
What she had mocked back then was my romance, my goal—but at the same time, it had also been her own ideal, her own goal.
"I sincerely apologize. I'm sorry."
At some point, her usual casual speech had turned into polite language.
As she said that, she didn't move even a little.
She would probably keep doing that until I said I forgave her.
Honestly, it wouldn't have been bad to let her off the hook here.
But...
"Words are cheap."
"I mean it."
"Yeah, I'm sure you do, right now."
No, to put it more honestly...
"You want it too, don't you? You want it so badly it drives you mad. This power, this technique, this knowledge I have."
The 'mystery' that no one in this world, save the gods, could possess.
Even after my blunt words, Tsubaki didn't show the slightest sign of wavering.
But I knew.
I knew exactly how she felt right now.
Because in my previous world, there had been plenty of people who reacted the same way when they first encountered 'mystery.'
Come to think of it, I had been one of those types myself.
In other words, she and I were fundamentally the same kind.
We just pursued different directions, toward different destinations.
"If you held that sword, then you must have felt it already. Realized it. Understood what I'm talking about.
"Because it's on a completely different level from the things you've known until now.
"Abilities or skills through [Falna]?
"Ha! That's just a dog bone the gods dangle in front of the people of the lower world, telling them to eat it and run themselves ragged like dogs to entertain them.
"For humanity, that alone is amazing enough. But there's still a clear limit.
"Can you really surpass a god with power given by a god? Well, maybe you can get somewhat close, but anything beyond that is impossible."
"Yes, that's right."
At my words, Tsubaki agreed and finally showed a different reaction.
To begin with, the 'mystery' I was talking about, the one defined by magecraft, wasn't some one-dimensional thing like mere magical knowledge or mana.
Those were all just means, fuel.
True 'mystery' was something more fundamental, something transcendent.
Representative examples would be things like a Noble Phantasm, which over long ages and through layers of history and faith becomes transformed from simple metal into something greater, or a Heroic Spirit, which is sublimated from a human into a spirit.
That is what 'mystery' is: a force, a fundamental unknown that composes the world itself.
Knowing this subtle, almost trivial difference is the standard by which one can distinguish my magecraft from the magic of this world.
Perhaps she had found, however faintly, a way to achieve her goal there.
"So I'm begging you so humbly. Please, if you would, let me have that..."
"Nope."
But what did that have to do with me?
Unfortunately, I still hadn't fully forgiven her.
My anger hadn't cooled enough for that yet.
Yes, if possible, I wanted to tease her a little more here.
"How about an arm as an apology? I'd also take the other eye. It'd be inconvenient for working or living, sure, but once you got used to it, you could probably keep going, couldn't you?"
I asked for a cruel offering with all the kindness I could muster.
Of course, it was nothing but a bluff, a joke.
There was no way a hammer-crazed woman like her would actually accept something like that...
"If that's what you want."
Crunch
"Ghk, ngh!"
"Huh?"
And then she grabbed the only eye she had left, her right eye, with her bare hand and ripped it out.
Obviously, it must have hurt like hell, but aside from a small groan, she didn't let out a single scream.
She simply ignored the pain from the now-empty socket, set the torn-out eyeball on the floor, and with her dominant right arm, began to smash her less-used left arm...
"You crazy bitch!"
Bang!
"Kuh!"
"Huh?"
I hurriedly struck her between the brows with a [Magecraft] spell and knocked her out.
If she had been in her normal state, it wouldn't have worked at all on a Level 5 adventurer, but she was weakened for a variety of reasons, so she went down in one hit.
I let out a sigh as I looked down at the shop floor, now smeared with her blood in an instant.
Who would have thought she was this far gone... this much of a fanatic, one of my own kind.
"No, no way. Even crazy me wouldn't have gone this far... did I?"
It was the kind of moment that made old memories rise up and turn embarrassing all over again.
Back then, I'm terribly sorry, Professor. I won't do it again.
"Tch, I guess I have no choice."
In any case, now that things had come to this, I couldn't just leave her there and let her bleed out.
After all, if I ended up antagonizing a powerful organization like Hephaistos Familia, my future daily life would become a massive headache.
So first I gave her simple emergency treatment, then carefully handled the torn-out eyeball and put it back where it belonged.
While I was at it, I also restored her broken left arm and right hand to their original state.
After debating where to put the collapsed woman, I simply spread out bedding on the shop floor and laid her down there.
That settled that!
"Haa, I was just going to mess with her a little because she was annoying, and now look at all this trouble."
Feeling petty, I punched the unconscious woman hard enough to knock her out again.
Then, to change my mood, I went back into the workshop and buried myself in magecraft research.
Before I knew it, time had passed, and the next morning arrived.
"Ah."
Seeing Tsubaki already awake, having tidied herself up and once again throwing herself into dogeza to beg for forgiveness just like yesterday, my mood sank all over again.
She was doing this again after all that chaos yesterday?
Fine, so you want to take this all the way, huh?
All right, let's do it!
"Not a chance."
I turned on my heel and went straight back into the workshop.
Even then, and after that too, Tsubaki didn't budge an inch.
The next morning, her posture was still exactly the same.
"Hmph! How long do you think that'll last?"
That was what I thought.
But the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that...
"Wow, that's relentless. Absolutely relentless."
More than two weeks had already passed.
During that time, Tsubaki hadn't taken even a sip of water or a single moment of sleep.
She stayed rooted in place, enduring only with her fiercely stubborn willpower, and kept begging me for forgiveness without end.
By this point, even I was starting to feel not just tired of it, but genuinely afraid of that terrifying obsession.
As someone who was starting to miss a peaceful daily life, I had no choice.
"No helping it. Hey, One-Eye."
"... Y-yes."
Her voice was so worn out and dried up that it had gone hoarse.
But that wasn't my problem, so I ignored it and got straight to the point.
I had already more than achieved my original goal of tormenting her, so I convinced myself this wasn't a loss.
More than anything, with someone this stubborn, the best thing to do was compromise, send her away quickly, and never deal with her again.
And yet, at the same time...
"I'd like to place a custom order."
I was also curious what kind of thing she could make now.
"This time, just make it in this shape. As for the finer details, do whatever you want. I don't care how long it takes, so come back to me once you've made something you're satisfied with. We'll talk details after that."
"But... I'm still..."
"Try it. I'm sure it'll be fine. I don't know much about blacksmithing, but... if I had to give one piece of advice, it'd be to just remember it."
The feeling you experienced when you held that sword.
"The best in Orario. I'm looking forward to it this time."
After hearing everything I had to say, Tsubaki just stared at me blankly.
But soon enough, as if she had steeled herself anew inside, she stood up with a hardened expression despite her exhausted body.
Then she took a shaky step forward and left the shop.
Watching her back, I finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew, finally some peace and quiet."
The shop had always been quiet, but this was different from the calm of being alone.
As expected, I was the type who was born to hole up by myself.
About ten days passed while I savored that peace and threw myself back into research.
"Here's the item you ordered."
Tsubaki came back to the shop.
Her face looked a little better than before, and there was a confidence in her that was hard to put into words.
But that was only after I checked the item she had brought.
Was that confidence pride, or arrogance?
My answer was simple.
"Oh?"
A jet-black dagger sat before my eyes.
It looked like nothing much, and compared to the original, it was very unimpressive.
Even so, this [Dagger] clearly held a faint [Mystery] within it.
And so I sincerely admired it, congratulating her on her growth.
"Good. You made it properly."
"I'm still far from it."
"Well, you can't fill your stomach on the first bite."
At my acknowledgment, Tsubaki finally smiled.
Then she bowed to me again and expressed her gratitude.
"Thank you sincerely for the guidance you gave me. I'll never forget this kindness, even after I die."
"Well, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Then I'll take that as a yes."
I dodged the answer vaguely.
She would probably think differently about my reply.
Something like... well, you know, that sort of awkward, ambiguous thing.
But unlike her misunderstanding, I wasn't lying.
In truth, the advice I had given her back then was little more than a vague, half-baked mess.
The fact that she had found even the slightest path through that flimsy advice was not because of me, but entirely because of her talent.
In other words: I don't know what that is, but it's scary.
Thanks to that, I was now desperately trying to keep my expression under control.
Good grief, what kind of absurd talent monster was this?
Things that some people only manage by sacrificing their lifespan and memories, these damned prodigies just... honestly, from the perspective of someone listening, it was insanely enviable.
"But this isn't the end."
Then.
Her expression changed unexpectedly.
The woman who had just been sincerely thanking me vanished, and in her place was a very calm, very challenging-looking Tsubaki.
"My goal is still to reach the realm of a god like my lord, Lady Hephaistos. Or something even beyond that."
With a grin, her lips curled upward, revealing her fangs.
She looked exactly like a hungry lioness.
"But that's still far away. You're the same, but... at least now I can see the path. So for now, I'm starting with you."
Her hot, blazing, passionate gaze pierced straight into me.
Honestly.
Should I be happy to be compared to the realm of the gods?
Or should I be angry that I looked that easy to deal with?
Well, either way.
"So I'll declare it here and now. I, Tsubaki Collbrande, am throwing down the gauntlet to you starting today. You're not going to dodge me because it's a hassle, are you?"
"I'm not a blacksmith, though?"
"Does that even matter right now?"
"Well, no, I suppose not."
Watching someone who had made up their mind was always enjoyable.
The sight of such people taking one step, then another, advancing toward their goal was truly wondrous.
Unlike me, who only half-played around while indulging my own hobbies, that was the kind of human, the kind of hero, who truly deserved praise.
"Good. But... can you keep up?"
With a smile at the corner of my mouth, I accepted her challenge with a provoking expression of my own.
It wasn't like this was some bloody battle with broken bones and flying flesh, so it didn't matter.
For me, this was actually a gain: not only [Gubnew Familia], but another trustworthy forge as well.
If there was any complaint at all, it was only that I couldn't say that line with my back to her at such a perfect moment.
I'd have to chalk that up to my own lack of skill and aim for the next chance.
"Ha! As much as you want!"
"Excellent spirit. In that case... I'm Hans Christian Andersen, a mage from the Clock Tower. I look forward to working with you, One-Eye."
"Tsubaki Collbrande, captain of Hephaistos Familia. Likewise, I look forward to working with you, mage."
We shook hands once more and greeted each other.
There was no trace left of the frustrating stubbornness she had shown at our first meeting.
The current her, smiling brightly and freely after laying everything bare, looked like her true self.
"Good. But... you're back to casual speech?"
"Oh, do you hate it? Then should I go back to polite speech?"
"Forget it. It's not like there's any benefit to that. Just keep talking naturally."
So, as people walking similar paths, we decided to treat each other like old friends of the same age.
I didn't really know how old she actually was, but that hardly mattered.
There were more important things than that.
"Then since things have come to this, let's work on something together. I've had something I wanted to make for a long time, but Gubnew was asking way too much for it, so I never really got around to it."
"Oh? Interesting. What kind of weapon are you trying to make?"
"Wrong. It's not a weapon. It's a weapon too."
"Huh?"
Tsubaki looked at me in confusion at my proposal.
With a broad smile, I took out a blueprint showing the overall design and held it up for her to see.
This was one of my greatest ambitions.
"This armor and shield are all part of the same set."
"Yeah... that does look expensive."
She studied the blueprint I handed her with a serious expression and clicked her tongue.
At a glance, it was probably obvious this wasn't an ordinary item.
"By the way, your taste is pretty nasty. Skulls here, spikes there. Does this thing have some other name or something?"
At her tentative question, I nodded as if of course it did.
That's right.
If I were to name this armor set, there could only be one answer.
"Of course. 'Mountain Sage.' That's the name of this armor."
"That's even weirder. Where's the sage part?"
"Well, there's a reason."
To her question, I could only answer with an expectant smile.
After all...
When all was said and done, the final stage of fandom was cosplay, wasn't it?
And now I was finally getting to challenge that.
It was truly a deeply moving moment.
So this time, I would absolutely make it the best I could.
Please watch over me, First Lord!
*
Epilogue.
"Oh, Lady Hephaistos?"
"Your expression looks much better, Tsubaki."
After returning, Tsubaki had started hammering away again without rest.
Hephaistos watched her from behind with a relieved smile.
"Hehe, do I?"
"Yes. You finally look like yourself again."
"Sorry. I really worried you, didn't I?"
"It's fine now that you know it."
Tsubaki smiled a little bashfully and apologized to the goddess for all the trouble she had caused.
It seemed she had finally realized just how selfish she had been once she came to her senses.
Meanwhile, the goddess's gaze was fixed on a certain blueprint lying beside her.
"Armor, huh. You're going big from the start."
It was a little tasteless with all the skulls and spikes, though.
After that brief assessment, her child shook her head and said it wasn't time for that yet.
"Not yet. Right now I'm going to test this [power] a little more. Once I've gotten used to it, that's when I'll start."
"Hmm."
Looking at her child, the goddess smiled with satisfaction.
Yes, she finally seemed to have regained some of her old composure.
At this rate, she looked like she'd be fine now.
"Well then, good. Do your best."
Thanks to that, she could relax and turn her attention to the other children in the Familia.
Just as she was about to turn away after making that judgment, Tsubaki called out to stop her.
"Ah, right. I'm going to pause for a bit, so could you update my [Falna] for me? Since I'm starting fresh with a new resolve, I wanted to renew this too."
"You want that? Then undo the bandages on your chest and sit down here. I'll do it right away."
At her child's request, the goddess readily agreed.
Soon, the [Falna] update began.
Since it only required a single drop of divine blood, the update was over quickly.
But the result was anything but light.
"This is...!"
"Hm? What is it?"
Hephaistos, upon checking Tsubaki's newly updated [Falna], was so shocked she couldn't speak for a moment.
Overall, Tsubaki's status hadn't changed all that much.
But there was one thing.
One change that was enough to surprise even a goddess.
Skill [Fairy Smith]
- Feels mystery.
- Handles mystery.
- Mystery dwells in forging.
"What is it, Lady Hephaistos? Did something amazing come up?"
"... No, nothing."
Even after Tsubaki asked again and again, Hephaistos only shook her head and said no.
Even as a goddess, she herself didn't know exactly what this meant.
But as a god, her instinct told her it would be better to keep this hidden, not only from others but from Tsubaki herself as well.
So she showed Tsubaki the revised status information.
"Here. This is the current you."
"Let's see... tsk, not as different as I'd hoped. I was kind of looking forward to it."
Tsubaki looked somewhat disappointed.
Seeing that, the goddess deliberately answered in a cool tone while hiding her true thoughts.
"You've only just gotten out of your slump, so what are you expecting... For today, just wrap things up properly and start again tomorrow. And I'm saying this now, but you smell terrible."
"Eh? Really?! Sniff, ugh! It's true! Did I really smell that bad!?"
"Of course. You've been wandering around outside for nearly a month without taking care of yourself. Hurry up and clean this up, then go take a bath. After that, eat and get some proper sleep. Don't go being stubborn again and causing trouble for everyone."
"Ugh, got it. See you tomorrow, Lady Hephaistos."
At Hephaistos's advice, Tsubaki hurried out of the forge, unable to hide how disgusted even she was with herself.
She was probably heading to a bathhouse nearby.
"I told you to clean this up before you go."
She didn't need to go back to her old habits in every little thing.
Looking around the forge, which was still a complete mess, the goddess let out a sigh.
Still, her child had finally returned to her old, good self after so long.
Thinking of that grinning face, all she could do was smile wryly.
"Still, that girl ended up owing Hestia quite a bit this time. I wonder what would be a good treat to pay her back with."
And then Hephaistos left the messy forge without hesitation.
As an aside, the next day Tsubaki spent the entire day cleaning the forge with a miserable expression.
Well, it was all her own fault, so let's not worry about it too much.